WEBVTT

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And a couple of poems about
the subject of justice.

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It seems to me that a lot
of poems that I write,

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have been writing,
I try to do justice

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to people who haven't
been done justice to.

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I think that's
probably one big motive

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for a lot of people who write.

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I'd certainly say someone
like Melville, who writes--

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most of his work is compensatory
that way, it seems to me.

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This poem is called Charity.

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I guess this poem is
really about the fact

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that the law of
compensation, which

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says that, for every grief,
there is a compensating joy.

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It's not true.

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Charity.

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Time to believe that
the thin disguise

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on the face of the
blessing in disguise

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will never be pulled off,
that the truth that's

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still in hiding will stay
there, far in the dark.

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All that can be
revealed is revealed.

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All that can be learned
from the burning house

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was learned the first time,
when the smoke blackened

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the walls in every room.

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So much for more experience.

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What can grow has grown.

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What's small now stays small.

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No portion waits for
those who deserve more.

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The flowers in the yard
of the blind and deaf girl

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will never smell
any sweeter to her

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than they smell now to
any of her visitors.

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The music she imagines
will never compare to ours.

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Her best day will
brighten with no joy that

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hasn't brightened our day more.

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Time to admit that
her steady cheer

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is the burden she
assumes to keep us here,

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touching her
fingers for a while.

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